April 9, 2015
Boating to Batam: What have I got myself in for now?
After another week at Andy’s I could no longer handle the inquest into whether or not the kiddies’ roundabout that I’d swung around on in a Thailand playground with Robin should mean that my whole trip was void, and before being convinced to reset my circumnavigation map again I decided to move on. Indonesia was just a short boat ride away and my passport already contained a 60-day visa for that country, a 60-day visa which had not come cheap. A 30-day visa would have been much more affordable and consequently I was determined to spend at least 31 days in Indonesia so as to not feel like I had wasted my money in getting the longer visa for a sailboat hunt that was never necessary. With so much time to spare I still had the option to take long-distance ferries down to east Java and Bali and explore down there before returning in much the same way. But I decided against this because it would mean a total of five days on the cramped Indonesian ferries plus a couple of layovers in Jakarta, commonly referred to as the worst place in the world to try and ride a bicycle. Instead I made a plan to head over to the closer and less-populated island of Sumatra and have a bit of an explore of that before returning to Singapore for my cruise.
First I needed to take a boat to the Indonesian island of Batam, located less than an hour south of Singapore. I had to check-in all of my luggage including the bike in the ferry terminal on the Singapore side and then go through passport control on the first floor where I had a bit of a horror moment when it looked like the only way to get down to the ferry was by escalator or elevator and the elevator had a big ‘FOR DISABLED USE ONLY’ sign on it. I had terrible visions of them not letting me use the elevator and me not being prepared to ruin everything by taking the escalator, and my bike and all my possessions setting sail for Indonesia alone, with me stuck in this terrible customs hall forever. So I suddenly developed a most awful limp and hobbled over towards the disabled lift, only to then make a complete recovery when I noticed that there was actually a set of stairs next to the escalator after all.
This first ferry ride was quite alright and there was a little space at the back of the boat where I could sit outside and watch the Singapore skyline disappear. We passed through a large area of big container ships anchored off shore and then headed off towards the green island of Batam. I was nervous about what I would find, but the arrivals terminal was a nice, clean building reminiscent of Singapore. I went through customs and waited with the other passengers for our luggage to come through. Everyone else’s stuff arrived but there was no sign of any of mine until eventually a man came up to me and asked me if I was the owner of the bike. Once I answered in the affirmative he declared proudly that he would bring it to me if I would only give him some money. Welcome to Indonesia. “No, I bloody well won’t give you some money, now give me my bike” I said, or some such similar statement, to which the man refused to bring me my bike but did at least show me where I could collect it from, which was in my opinion much the better arrangement anyway.
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I next needed to figure out how to take a boat on from Batam to Sumatra. Batam is an island that is frequently visited by Singaporeans to stay in nice resorts and play golf, which would probably explain why the arrivals building looked so plush. I asked around about the boat to Sumatra and was told that “This is the international terminal, you want the domestic terminal next door.” So I cycled out of the nice car park and past the security guards and next door I found the domestic terminal, which, not having any need to serve wealthy Singaporeans, was a large dilapidated structure with a giant rusted corrugated roof that looked quite in danger of sliding off and landing on the local men who sat idly on kerbs outside.
These men just sat, as men all over Asia do, with nothing better to do with their evenings. I felt quite intimidated by them as I cycled past and they shouted out to me in unintelligible slurs that may have been friendly but had an undertone my slightly paranoid mind didn’t like. Life in Singapore had been easy. All of the difficulties of Asia were over, I had made it. Now, suddenly, and for no particularly good reason, I was right back in the thick of it again. It was a strange sensation. Almost never on my travels had I had such a feeling of being threatened, of being all alone in a foreign land, surrounded by potentially dangerous strangers. I knew that Indonesia was going to be a massive challenge and in this moment I felt like escaping immediately back to Singapore. But dammit, I wasn’t going to waste that 60-day visa.
09/04/15 – 11km (2km in Indonesia)
Today's ride: 2 km (1 miles)
Total: 39,969 km (24,821 miles)
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